1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to information storage devices and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a portable flash memory drive.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common for computer users in both business and personal life to need to store selected files located on one computer on a portable device for transfer to another computer. Some examples include taking a work file from the office to continue working on it at home, bringing a file to a colleague or friend, or backing up important files.
As computer disk and the sizes have increased over the years, the format of popular file storage devices has changed. Floppy disks for example have become obsolete due to their limited storage capacity. Flash memory drives have become a popular storage medium due to their large capacity and compact form factor. Flash memory is a type of memory that can hold or store data without power. Therefore, a flash memory drive has the advantage of not needing a local battery or power source, and data can be stored for long periods of time without concern about replacing a battery or recharging. Flash drives are available in many forms, and can hold relatively large amounts of data, such as 32 or 64 gb.
Flash memory drives usually have a male Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector and plug into female USB connectors that are standard on computers. Upon connection the computer recognizes the device and the user can instruct the computer to read selected files from the device and/or write data from the computer to the device. Accordingly, if a user has information on a flash memory drive and wishes to transfer it to another flash memory drive, such as that of a friend or business colleague, he or she first has to connect it to a computer and transfer the information to the computer. Then the first device is removed and the second device is connected. Next the computer is instructed to write the information to the second device. Lastly, in many cases the information that has been temporarily stored on the computer may need to be deleted. This process is tedious and inconvenient. Further, if the data is confidential then it may be risky to use a third party computer. Another possibility is that if the computer has two USB ports available, the two USB devices could be connected at the same time, and the computer could affect the transfer without needing to store the data on the computer's local hard drive. This procedure may still be risky if the data is confidential and is still inconvenient in that it requires a host computer to perform.